‘Miracle men’ in football hall of fame

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Nottingham Forest’s European Cup-winning sides will be given two new team awards at a one-off ceremony later this year

The team behind Nottingham Forest’s European Cup victories are to be inducted into the hall of fame at the National Football Museum.

Forest, who won the European Cup in 1979 and 1980, will be given two new team awards at a one-off event in Nottingham later this year.

John Robertson – described by then manager Brian Clough as the “Picasso” of football – will also be inducted.

Notts County will also be honoured as the world’s oldest football club.

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Trevor Francis (centre) scored the only goal in the 1979 final against Malmo

Forest’s achievements under Brian Clough and Peter Taylor were recently played out on the silver screen with the release of the film I Believe in Miracles.

Robertson proved to be a key figure in both finals, setting up the winning goal for Trevor Francis in 1979 and scoring the only goal in Forest’s 1-0 win over Hamburg a year later.

Other household names such as former Manchester United players Rio Ferdinand and Denis Irwin, ex-Liverpool stars Mark Lawrenson and Billy Liddell, goalkeepers David Seaman and Neville Southall and current Scotland manager Gordon Strachan, will join their Nottingham counterparts in the hall of fame at the museum in Manchester.

2

European Cups

2 League Cups

1 European Super Cup

1 Division One title

1 Anglo-Scottish Cup

They were selected by a panel which features museum president and United club director Sir Bobby Charlton, vice-president Sir Alex Ferguson and Gordon Taylor.

Other inductees for the “Female Players” and “Football For All” categories – chosen by the Football Association – are Everton left-back Rachel Unitt, former goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis and Martin Sinclair, England Cerebral Palsy player and brother of Aston Villa player Scott Sinclair.

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“But give him a ball and a yard of grass, and he was an artist, the Picasso of our game,” Brian Clough once said of John Robertson

They will all be inducted at a ceremony in October.

Museum director Dr Kevin Moore said: “Our expectations have been surpassed this year as our inductees have continued to amaze us not just with their talent, but their commitment to the game.”

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I Believe in Miracles was released nationwide in cinemas last year